Lake Abert, a remote saltwater lake in Oregon's high desert, is disappearing, driving away thousands of migratory birds and killing brine shrimp, one of the only creatures hearty enough to tolerate its severely salty water.

It's an environmental mystery. The lake has hit a low not seen since the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s.

Scientists studying the lake say that doesn't explain it. Nearby snowpack has been about 8 percent lower than normal over the last decade. Lake Abert has lost nearly 90 percent of its volume in that time.

The scientists think local ranches are using more water from the Chewaucan River, Lake Abert's main source.

But that's unclear. Oregon doesn't require private landowners to report their water use.

3. No government agency has done anything to unravel the Lake Abert mystery.

Scientists interested in the lake have sought grant funding to learn more, only to be turned away. They're asking questions that locals aren't eager to see answered.

4. One good year could help Lake Abert recover.

Keith Kreuz is hoping for it. He's made a living by fishing for the lake's brine shrimp, selling them as food to industrial shrimp farming outlets from Ecuador to Indonesia.

A good flush of spring runoff could lower the lake's salinity and allow brine shrimp to hatch. But Kreuz fears the lake won't ever get it.

5. Other lakes in the West have disappeared and caused costly problems.

Mono Lake and Owens Lake in California shrank after Los Angeles tapped them for drinking water. More than $1 billion has been spent fixing the mess at Owens Lake. Walker Lake in Nevada shrunk after irrigation sapped the river that feeds it. Millions have been spent to rehabilitate it.